Multiple Sclerosis, (MS) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system that affects the brain’s ability to send and receive signals thus compromising its patients’ balance, memory, vision and other functions. Researchers have long known that pregnancy affords female MS patients a precipitous drop in symptoms during the last half of gestation.
Could this benefit be extended to people who are not pregnant? Researchers are working to find out if this is possible – and readers who have MS can help.
In 2003 Dr. Rhonda Voskuhl, director of UCLA’s Multiple Sclerosis Program, and her colleagues, conducted a pilot study in which 10 non-pregnant women with MS were given estriol, a hormone produced by the placenta throughout pregnancy. The study participants enjoyed an 80 percent drop in inflammatory lesions in the brain, a telltale sign of the disease. Estriol is a pill that has been available for decades and is often used by menopausal women to lessen their symptoms.
There is also evidence that estrogens may be beneficial for cognition. Approximately half of all MS patients experience cognitive problems such as processing information gathered by one’s senses, attention, concentration and executive functions such as prioritizing tasks. Thus, Voskuhl and her colleagues are expanding the pilot study with a new ongoing trial to determine whether estriol treatment can improve cognition in women with MS. If you are female, between the ages of 18-50 and have the diagnosis of MS, you may qualify to participate in the study. Patients continue to take their standard disease modifying treatment for MS, while adding on treatment with either an estriol or placebo pill.
For more information about the trial, please contact the UCLA MS program at (310) 206-2176.
